The Westerkerk (Westertoren) Carillon Bell Tower Ringtones
Produced by James Forrest - Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA, 2011.
http://www.pem.org
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Contents
1. Rights and Usage
2. How to install these ringtones
3. About the bell makers
4. Credits
5. Reference
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1. Rights and Usage
These ringtones are royalty and copyright free so please use and share often!
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2. How to install these ringtones
Please consult - http://www.ehow.com/installing-ringtones/
or your phone's user manual.
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3. About the bell makers
The brothers François and Pieter Hemony were the most important and famous casters of bells and producers of carillons in their time. They produced the first pure sounding set of bells and thus transformed the carillon it to a serious musical instrument. Between 1642-1679 they would produce 51 carillons.
François was born around 1609 in Levécourt in Lorraine (France). His brother Pieter was born 10 years later. The Hemony family were clock casters who, during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), travelled through Europe to cast artillery and bells. Their father went to Germany, where François casted his first bells in 1636.
In 1641 the brothers cast their first bells in the Netherlands, namely for the town of Goor. In 1642 they got the commission to cast a set of bells in Zutphen. It became a success and they made an additional 13 sets for Zutphen.
In 1655 François Hemony was invited by the city of Amsterdam to settle there, under favorable terms, as a caster of artillery and bells and to cast the carillons of the Oude, Zuider- and Westerkerk. Thanks to their special methods of casting they were able to conceive very pure tones from the bells. Hemony only settled in 1657 with his family in a free standing house at the edge of the city, nowadays the Leidsegracht. The unmarried Pieter settled in the Belgium city of Gent.
The casting company of Hemony was situated within the city borders, at the Molenpad (Mills path, between Prinsengracht and Leidsegracht) From here Hemony casted 20 sets of bells including several for foreign cities such as Antwerp, Gent, Mainz, Hamburg, Stockholm etc.
Hemony also casted six statues for the new city hall at Dam square, that were designed by the sculptor Artus Quellinus (1609-1668). In 1664 Pieter joined his brother in Amsterdam. Together they executed several commissions. During the Second English Naval War (1665-1667), they casted mainly artillery.
François Hemony was buried on May 24th 1667 and his brother became the guardian of his two children. Pieter remained unmarried. The Hemony's were Catholics and remained so.
Pieter would continue work until his death on February 17th 1680 and produced another 10 sets of bells thus making a total of 51 sets that the brothers Hemony produced.
The importance of the Hemony brothers lies in the fact that they transformed the rather primitive bells that existed until their time into a mature musical instrument and their work can be admired in many European cities as well in many Dutch towns. They produced in Amsterdam carillons for the Zuiderkerk (1656; these were still cast in Zutphen since Hemony only settled in Amsterdam in 1657), Oude Kerk (1658) and Westerkerk (1658) but also for the Commerce tower (1653), which was moved to the Munt tower in 1668) and for the new city hall on Dam square (1664). But also in Haarlem, Groningen, Utrecht and Maastricht can we find bells from Hemony as well as in several other Dutch towns (Enkhuizen, Zaltbommel, 's-Hertogenbosch, Delft, Kampen, Amersfoort etc.).
The set of bells for the Westertoren became the biggest of Amsterdam with 50 bells. The heaviest weighed 2.000 kilos.
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4. Credits
- Concept, Producer, Engineer: James Forrest - Peabody Essex Museum
- Performer: Boudewijn Zwart - www.bellmoods.com
- Funding: The Samuel H. Kress Foundation
- (c) Peabody Essex Museum
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